Cancer is an abnormal growth of cells. Cancer cells rapidly reproduce despite restriction of space, nutrients shared by other cells, or signals sent from the body to stop reproduction. Cancer cells are often shaped differently from healthy cells, do not function properly, and can spread into many areas of the body. Abnormal growths of tissue, called tumors, are clusters of cells that are capable of growing and dividing uncontrollably. Tumors can be benign (noncancerous) or malignant (cancerous). Benign tumors tend to grow slowly and do not spread. Malignant tumors can grow rapidly, invade and destroy nearby normal tissues, and spread throughout the body.
Cancers are classified according to the kind of fluid or tissue from which they originate, or according to the location in the body where they first developed. In addition, some cancers are of mixed types. Cancers can be grouped into five broad categories, carcinomas, sarcomas, lymphomas, leukemias, and myelomas, which indicate the tissue and blood classifications of the cancer. Carcinomas are cancers found in body tissue known as epithelial tissue that covers or lines surfaces of organs, glands, or body structures. For example, a cancer of the lining of the stomach is called a carcinoma. Many carcinomas affect organs or glands that are involved with secretion, such as breasts that produce milk. Carcinomas account for approximately eighty to ninety percent of all cancer cases. Sarcomas are malignant tumors growing from connective tissues, such as cartilage, fat, muscle, tendons, and bones. The most common sarcoma, a tumor on the bone, usually occurs in young adults. Examples of sarcoma include osteosarcoma (bone) and chondrosarcoma (cartilage). Lymphoma refers to a cancer that originates in the nodes or glands of the lymphatic system, whose job it is to produce white blood cells and clean body fluids, or in organs such as the brain and breast. Lymphomas are classified into two categories: Hodgkin's lymphoma and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Leukemia, also known as blood cancer, is a cancer of the bone marrow that keeps the marrow from producing normal red and white blood cells and platelets. White blood cells are needed to resist infection. Red blood cells are needed to prevent anemia. Platelets keep the body from easily bruising and bleeding. Examples of leukemia include acute myelogenous leukemia, chronic myelogenous leukemia, acute lymphocytic leukemia, and chronic lymphocytic leukemia. The terms myelogenous and lymphocytic indicate the type of cells that are involved. Finally, myelomas grow in the plasma cells of bone marrow. In some cases, the myeloma cells collect in one bone and form a single tumor, called a plasmacytoma. However, in other cases, the myeloma cells collect in many bones, forming many bone tumors. This is called multiple myeloma.
Tumor induction and progression are often the result of accumulated changes in the tumor-cell genome. Such changes can include inactivation of cell growth inhibiting genes, or tumor suppressor genes, as well as activation of cell growth promoting genes, or oncogenes. Hundreds of activated cellular oncogenes have been identified to date in animal models, however, only a small minority of these genes have proven to be relevant to human cancers (Weinberg et al 1989 Oncogenes and the Molecular Origins of Cancer Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y., Stanbridge and Nowell 1990 Cell 63 867-874, Godwin et al 1992 Oncogenes and antioncogenes in gynecological malignancies. In W J Hoskins, C A Perez and R C Young (eds), Gynecological oncology: principles and practice, pp 87-116, Lippincott, Philadelphia). The activation of oncogenes in human cancers can result from factors such as increased gene copy number or structural changes. These factors can cause numerous cellular effects, for example, they can result in overexpression of a gene product. Several oncogenes involved in human cancer can be activated through gene overexpression.
It has become apparent that the successive genetic aberrations acquired by cancer cells result in defects in regulatory signal transduction circuits that govern normal cell proliferation, differentiation and programmed cell death (Hanahan, D. and R. A. Weinberg, Cell, 2000. 100(1): p. 57-700). This in turn results in fundamental defects in cell physiology which dictate malignancy. These defects include: a) self sufficiency in growth signals (i.e. overexpression of growth factor receptor tyrosine kinases such as EGFR and aberrant activation of downstream signal transduction pathways such as Ras/Raf/Mek/Erk ½ and Ras/PI3K/Akt), b) resistance to anti-growth signals (i.e. lower expression of TGFβ and its receptor), c) evading apoptosis (i.e. loss of proapoptotic p53; overexpression of pro-survival Bc1-2; hyperactivation of survival pathways such as those mediated by PI3K/Akt), d) sustained angiogenesis (i.e. high levels of secretion of VEGF) and f) tissue invasion and metastasis (i.e. extracellular proteases and prometastatic integrins) (Hanahan, D. and R. A. Weinberg, Cell, 2000. 100(1): p. 57-700).
Receptor tyrosine kinases such as EGFR, ErbB2, VEGFR and insulin-like growth factor I receptor (IGF-1R) are intimately involved in the development of many human cancers including colorectal pancreatic, breast and ovarian cancers (Khaleghpour, K., et al. Carcinogenesis, 2004. 25(2): p. 241-8.; Sekharam, M., et al., Cancer Res, 2003. 63(22): p. 7708-16). Binding of ligands such as EGF, VEGF and IGF-1 to their receptors promotes stimulation of the intrinsic tyrosine kinase activity, autophosphorylation of specific tyrosines in the cytoplasmic domain of the receptors and recruitment of signaling proteins that trigger a variety of complex signal transduction pathways (Olayioye, M. A., et al., Embo J, 2000. 19(13): p. 3159-67, Porter, A. C. and R. R. Vaillancourt, Oncogene, 1998. 17(11 Reviews): p. 1343-52). This in turn leads to the activation of many tumor survival and oncogenic pathways such as the Ras/Raf/Mek/Erk ½, JAK/STAT3 and PI3K/Akt pathways. Although all three pathways have been implicated in colon, pancreatic, breast and ovarian oncogenesis, those that are mediated by Akt have been shown to be critical in many steps of malignant transformation including cell proliferation, anti-apoptosis/survival, invasion and metastasis and angiogenesis (Datta, S. R. et al. Genes Dev, 1999. 13(22): p. 2905-27).
Akt is a serine/threonine protein kinase (also known as PKB), which has 3 family members Akt1, Akt2 and Akt3. Stimulation of cells with growth or survival factors results in recruitment to the receptors of the lipid kinase phosphoinositide-3-OH-kinase (PI3K) which phosphorylates phosphoinositol-4,5-biphosphate (PIP2) to PIP3 which recruits Akt to the plasma membrane where it can be activated by phosphorylation on Thr308 andSer473 (Akt1), Thr308 andSer474 (Akt2) and Thr308 andSer472 (Akt3) (Datta, S. R. et al. Genes Dev, 1999. 13(22): p. 2905-27). Thus, PI3K activates Akt by phosphorylating PIP2 and converting to PIP3. The phosphatase PTEN dephophorylates PIP3 to PIP2 and hence prevents the activation of Akt.
The majority of human cancers contain hyperactivated Akt (Datta, S. R. et al. Genes Dev, 1999. 13(22): p. 2905-27, Bellacosa, A., et al., Int J Cancer, 1995. 64(4): p. 280-5; Sun, M., et al., Am J Pathol, 2001. 159(2): p. 431-7). In particular, Akt is overexpressed and/or hyperactivated in 57%, 32%, 27% and 36% of human colorectal, pancreatic, breast and ovarian cancers, respectivel (Roy, H. K., et al. Carcinogenesis, 2002. 23(1): p. 201-5. Altomare, D. A., et al., J Cell Biochem, 2003. 88(1): p. 470-6., Sun, M., et al., Cancer Res, 2001. 61(16): p. 5985-91., Stal, O., et al. Breast Cancer Res, 2003. 5(2): p. R37-44, Cheng, J. Q., et al., Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A, 1992. 89(19): p. 9267-71, Yuan, Z. Q., et al., Oncogene, 2000. 19(19): p. 2324-30). Hyperactivation of Akt is due to amplification and/or overexpression of Akt itself as well as genetic alterations upstream of Akt including overexpression of receptor tyrosine kinases and/or their ligands (Khaleghpour, K., et al. Carcinogenesis, 2004. 25(2): p. 241-8.; Sekharam, M., et al., Cancer Res, 2003. 63(22): p. 7708-16, Cohen, B. D., et al., Biochem Soc Symp, 1998. 63: p. 199-210., Muller, W. J., et al. Biochem Soc Symp, 1998. 63: p. 149-57, Miller, W. E., et al. J Virol, 1995. 69(7): p. 4390-8, Slamon, D. J., et al., Science, 1987. 235(4785): p. 177-82, Andrulis, I. L., et al., J Clin Oncol, 1998. 16(4): p. 1340-9) and deletion of the phosphatase PTEN. Proof-of-concept of the involvement of Akt in oncogenesis has been demonstrated preclinically by showing that ectopic expression of Akt induces malignant transformation and promotes cell survival (Sun, M., et al. Am J Pathol, 2001. 159(2): p. 431-7, Cheng, J. Q., et al., Oncogene, 1997. 14(23): p. 2793-801) and that disruption of Akt pathways inhibits cell growth and induces apoptosis (Jetzt, A., et al. Cancer Res, 2003. 63(20): p. 6697-706).
Current treatments of cancer and related diseases have limited effectiveness and numerous serious unintended side effects. Despite demonstrated clinical efficacy of many anti-cancer drugs, severe systemic toxicity often halts the clinical development of promising chemotherapeutic agents. Further, overexpression of receptor tyrosine kinases such as EGFR and their ligands such as IGF-1, Akt overexpression and/or loss of PTEN (all of which result in hyperactivation of Akt) are associated with poor prognosis, resistance to chemotherapy and shortened survival time of cancer patients. Current research strategies emphasize the search for effective therapeutic modes with less risk.
Triciribine
The anticancer action of triciribine (TCN, NSC-154202, 3-amino-1,5-dihydro-5-methyl-1-β-ribofuranosyl-1,4,5,6,8-pentaazaacenaphthylene) and its 5′-phosphate ester, triciribine phosphate (TCN-P, NSC-280594) was initially identified in the 1970s (Townsend & Milne (1975) Ann NY Acad Sci, 255: 92-103). TCN-P was the chemical entity advanced into clinical trials because it is more soluble than the parent drug. By the early eighties, TCN-P had shown preclinical activity against leukemias and carcinomas. By the early eighties, TCN-P had been identified as an inhibitor of DNA, RNA and protein synthesis, which demonstrated selectivity towards cells in the S phase of the cell cycle (Roti-Roti et al. 1978 Proc Am Assoc Cancer Res and ASCO 19:40). It had also been proposed that unlike other nucleoside antitumor agents at the time, TCN-P is not phosphorylated beyond the level of the monophosphate and is not incorporated into polynucleotides (Bennett et al 1978 Biochem Pharmacol 27:233-241, Plagemann JNCI 1976 57: 1283-95). It was also established that in vivo, TCN-P is dephosphorylated to TCN by a plasma enzyme and by cellular ecto-5′-nucleotidase. Inside the cells, TCN can be rephosphorylated to TCN-P by adenosine kinase (Wotring et al 1981 Proc Am Assoc Cancer Res 22: 257, Basseches et al. J Chromatogr 1982 233: 227-234).
In 1982, TCN-P was entered into Phase I clinical trials by Mittelman and colleagues in twenty patients with advanced refractory malignancies (Mittelman et al. 1983 Cancer Treat Rep 67: 159-162). TCN-P was administered as an intravenous (i.v.) infusion over fifteen minutes once every three weeks at doses from 25 to 350 mg/m2. The patients in the trial were diagnosed with breast, head/neck, lung, pancreas, thyroid, melanoma or undetermined cancer. Only limited therapeutic responses were found and significant toxicity was evident. Mittelman's group concluded that further clinical trials employing their dosing schedule were not warranted, but urged other groups to examine the effects of TCN-P in certain specific cancer types. Also in 1983, Lu et al. (ASCO Abstracts, Clinical Pharmacology, p 34 C-133) examined the clinical pharmacology of TCN in patients given 30-40 mg/m2 intravenously by continuous infusion for five days. Lu et al. reported that TCN contributed to liver toxicity and anemia and suggested that patients should be monitored for these toxicities.
Cobb et al (Cancer Treat Reports 1983 67: 173) reported the activity of TCN-P against surgical explants of human tumors in the six day subrenal capsule assay in mice. They examined eighty tumor types that represented breast, lung, colon, ovarian and cervical. Cobb et al reported that TCN produced variable response rates in the different tumors, ranging from 21% (breast) to 88% (cervical).
Another Phase I was also reported by Feun et al. in 1984 (Cancer Research 44 (8) 3608-12). Feun et al administered 10, 20, 30, and/or 40 mg/m2 intravenously by continuous infusion for five days, every three to four or six weeks. The patients in the trial had been diagnosed with colon, sarcoma, melanoma, lung or “other” cancer. Feun et al. reported that significant toxicity was seen, including hyperglycemia, hepatotoxicity and thrombocytopenia. The authors recommended a schedule for Phase II trials of 20 mg/m2 per day for five days for six weeks and also recommended due to the toxicity that the patients should be closely monitored for liver and pancreatic function, and that patients with diabetes, liver dysfunction or massive hepatic metastasis should be excluded.
In 1986, Schilcher et al. (Cancer Research 1986 46: 3147-3151) reported the results of a Phase I evaluation of TCN-P using a weekly intravenous regimen. The study was conducted in twenty-four patients with advanced solid cancers via a slow intravenous injection over five minutes on days 1, 8, 15 and 22 of a 42 day cycle with a two week rest. Five dose levels ranging from 12 to 96 mg/m2 were studied with 3-12 patients treated at each level with a total of 106 doses administered. The patients in the trial had been diagnosed with colon, rectal, bladder, adrenal, ovarian, pancreas, sarcoma, melanoma, lung or “other” cancer. Schilcher et al. concluded                “This weekly schedule produced unexpected clinical toxicity and should not be pursued.”        “At this time our group is discouraged to conduct further studies with TCN-P given on weekly or intermittent schedules. A future Phase I-II study using a different regimen (e.g., a single application once a month) might be resumed if TCN-P demonstrates a pronounced in vitro activity against therapeutic resistant primary pancreatic and hepatic tumors.”        
In 1986, Powis et al (Cancer Treatment Reports 70: 359-362) reported the disposition of TCN-P in blood and plasma of patients during Phase I and II clinical trials. The Phase I trial employed a daily dose of 24-55 mg/m2 for 5 days, whereas the Phase II clinical trial employed a single dose of 250 mg/m2. Powis et al failed to identify a correlation between TCN-P pharmacokinetic parameters and toxicity of TCN-P.
In the late 1980s, early 1990s, TCN-P advanced to Phase II trials for metastatic colorectal adenocarcinoma, non-small cell lung cancer, advanced squamous call carcinoma of the cervix and metastatic breast cancer. In 1987, O'Connell et al. (Cancer Treat Reports 71, No. 3, 333-34) published the results of a Phase II trial in patients with metastatic colorectal adenocarcinoma. The patients were administered TCN-P i.v. over 15 minutes 165 or 250 mg/m2 once a week in three week intervals. O'Connell et al. concluded that the trials show a lack of clinical usefulness of TCN-P in the treatment of patients with metatstatic colorectal adenocarcinoma. Further, in 1991, Lyss, et al., (Proc Annu Meet Am Soc Clin Oncol, (1996)15 A1151) reported the preliminary results of a trial of the administration of 35 mg/m2 per day for five days once every six weeks to patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer.
Feun et al. (Am J Clin Oncol 1993 16: 506-508) reported the results of a Phase II trial of TCN-P in patients with advanced squamous cell carcinoma of the cervix. A 5 day continuous infusion of at least 35 mg/m2 was repeated every six weeks. Among the twenty-one evaluable patients, only two responses were observed. Fuen et al. concluded “using this dose and schedule, TCN-P appears to have limited activity in metastatic or recurrent squamous cell cancer of the cervix”.
In 1996, Hoffman et al (Cancer Chemother Pharmacol 37: 254-258) reported the results of a Phase I-II study of TCN-P for metastatic breast cancer. In one study, fourteen patients were treated with 20 mg/M2 per day via continuous infusion for five days every six weeks. When the authors failed to see a response at this dose, the dose was escalated to at least 35 mg/m2 using the same 5 day continuous infusion schedule. Hoffman et al concluded that “TCN is ineffective at all doses tested and at doses of greater than or equal to 35 mg/m2 has unacceptable toxic effects.”
Thus, the combination of limited efficacy and unacceptable toxicity prevented the further clinical development of TCN-P and related compounds.
WO 03/079748 to the Regents of the University of California disclosed certain ZNF217 inhibitors, such as triciribine, in combination with additional chemotherapeutic agents, such as doxorubicon.
It is an object of the present invention to provide for the administration of triciribine and related compounds and compositions with reduced toxicity for the treatment of tumors, cancer, and others disorders associated with abnormal cell proliferation.
It is another object of the present invention to provide improved methods to treat tumors or cancer in the subject with triciribine and related compounds.